Tuesday, May 30, 2017

(CENTRALIA, WA) -- The Centralia City Council last week
approved the purchase of a new electrical substation transformer that will
likely be the main piece of equipment at the Salzer substation that will be
constructed soon.

Centralia City Light Manager M.L. Norton says that at
$860,000, the cost comes in about $140,000 below the estimated cost of $1
million. He says the transformer will be installed on a platform that is
designed to move during an earthquake to protect it and keep it functioning.

(OLYMPIA, WA) -- The seemingly never-ending budget talks in Olympia have become much more concerning for thousands of state employees.

Friday the state budget office formally notified the union representing Washington state employees that workers could be temporarily laid off if a compromise isn’t reached by July 1. Some employees received notice of potential layoffs earlier in the week. Tim Welch with Washington Federation of State Employees says the notifications hurt morale and the uncertainty hurts state agencies’ ability to plan for the future.

State lawmakers entered a second special session last week. If they don’t come to an agreement by the end of June, there will be a government shutdown.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

(PORTLAND, OR) – The Public Power Council stated its opposition to a proposal in the Administration’s Budget released today that would divest the electricity transmission system of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). BPA is a power marketing agency created to sell and deliver electricity from the federal Columbia River power system “at cost” to citizens of the Northwest. It operates 15,000 miles of transmission lines, all of the costs of which are paid for through the rates charged to its customers.

“We’ll want the details, but the effect appears to be a transfer of value from the people of the Northwest to the U.S. Treasury,” said PPC Executive Director, Scott Corwin. “Electricity consumers in the West have paid to construct and maintain a system that would be sold off to fund the federal government.”

PPC staff will be analyzing specifics of the proposal if and when they become available. Today’s budget summary documents show almost $5 billion attributed to divesting the BPA transmission assets between 2018 and 2027, with almost $1.8 billion of that amount collected in fiscal year 2019.

“Electric utilities here are already working with BPA toward evolution and modernization of the transmission system,” Corwin said. “These efforts are best handled in-region where the expertise lies with the parties who pay for the system.”At first look, the proposal raises several potential concerns including: (1) loss of regional control and value; (2) risk of increased costs to consumers; (3) potential for remote areas of the system to be neglected, harming rural communities; and, (4) impacts to reliability of what is currently a complex and integrated system.

(WASHINGTON, DC) – Representatives from the hydropower,
biomass, waste-to-energy, biogas and geothermal energy sectors sent a letter to
Energy Secretary Rick Perry last week requesting a meeting as the agency
conducts its review of the electric grid.

"We believe this review will demonstrate the need to
better recognize, value, and properly compensate renewable baseload
technologies for the grid benefits and services they provide," they wrote.

(WASHINGTON, DC) – She's not sure what's causing the holdups, but Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Lisa Murkowski says she's increasingly exasperated by the lack of nominees sent her way. "All I know is names go into a dark hole and it just seems to take forever," she said. "Where are they? This is May! ... I don't want to say I'm being a nag, but I am being persistent."Not blaming Democrats: Unlike many of her peers, Murkowski said she won't entirely blame Democrats for delays. "I'm not seeing that it is the Democrats that are delaying it," she said. "I think you've got some internal things going on, that I'm just not quite sure what is causing the hold up." But the lack of names is already impacting Trump's ability to implement his agenda: "You can't put in place the president's priorities if his secretaries don't have their people in place," Murkowski said.Zinke shares her concerns: Murkowski said she spoke with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke about the lack of progress and "he's just as frustrated as I am by this." But the problem isn't the people being picked for roles, she said. "Not one name have I heard has been rejected," the Alaskan said.

(WASHINGTON, DC) -- Seven Senate Energy and
Natural Resources Democrats, led by Ranking Member Maria Cantwell, are crying foul this morning over the
Energy Department's 60-day study of the electric grid that they say appears
intended to blame renewable energy sources for the struggles of nuclear and
coal. "This study appears to be a thinly-disguised attempt to promote less
economic electric generation technologies, such as coal and nuclear, at the
expense of cost-competitive wind and solar power," they write in a letter. The letter encourages Secretary Rick Perry to
adequately consider other factors, like low natural gas prices and existing
analyses showing positive impacts of renewable sources on grid reliability,
when conducting the review.

About Me

Joel Myer works at an electrical utility in Washington State.
Prior to his current employment, he worked for nine years at the City of Shelton as Special Projects Coordinator.
In 1992, Joel served a three-month term as an appointed Mason County Commissioner. As far as it is known, he still holds the record for the shortest term for a county commissioner in Washington State.
From 1991 through 1992 Joel worked with Washington State University Cooperative Extension, where he conducted an extensive study of the special forest products industry and its economic value to the Pacific Northwest.
From 1980 to 1991 he was News Director at KMAS Radio in Shelton.
Joel is a 1991 graduate of the Evergreen State College, where his focus of study was economics.
Joel Myer is one of the 2018 award winners, Foundation for Water & Energy Education Haiku Contest.
He has been teaching himself to play the ukulele (with limited success) since 2003.